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Navigational Controls
Navigation in MirrorMoon EP is a vital part of the gameplay. As with every core part of the experience, it is encouraged that you first attempt to discover the mechanics yourself. However, if you find yourself truly stuck, this page should be a place to start. The Navigation Console Upon starting a new game for the first time, you will come across the Navigation Console. The console comprises all of the controls and settings necessary for navigation through space in MirrorMoon EP. All interactable controls on the console are coloured Red. When you place your cursor over a control, a small white crosshair will appear to indicate you can interact with that object. All interaction with the console (barring naming star systems) is achieved with the mouse. Left-click to make use of any of the controls. Powering the Console The first thing you will want to do is power up the console. All of its features are functional from the very first time you see it, however there are a couple of things you can do to make it easier to work with. Firstly, you can switch on the main light by activating the circular red button in the lower-left middle section of the console. See Fig. 2 - the Main Lighting Switch. This will illuminate the console more clearly. Secondly, you can activate backlights on each of the console's monitors with the five small switches on the opposite side of the central unit. See Fig. 3 - Monitor Power Switches. This will illuminate the console's five main displays. The functions of these displays will be covered in later sections. The console will function with or without the lighting features, so their usage is down mainly to personal preference. The Galaxy Map The Galaxy Map is the largest, most prominent central display on the console. It is also arguably the most crucial to understand, as it allows you to select and view solar systems waiting to be explored. Each star system is represented on the Galaxy Map by a small circular icon. These vary in size Planet size? and there are a small number of variations on their appearance: -Black dots indicate solar systems you have yet to visit. -Gray dots indicate solar systems you have visited. -A small diamond inside a circle indicates your current location. Additionally, when a solar system is centred on the galaxy map, a second circle appears around it to indicate its selection. The process of highlighting a solar system is aided by the crosshairs visible on the screen. These light gray lines will remain stationary relative to the icons on the screen when the map is roatated. The two red buttons directly underneath the galaxy map are quick focus controls. The leftmost button will zoom the selection to your highlighted planet or destination. The rightmost button will zoom the selection to your vessel. These controls are particularly useful while in transit to another location. 'Galaxy Map Controls' Aside from the quick-focus buttons underneath the galaxy map, there are two other controls which allow you to select your destination and inspect the solar systems around you. These controls are located on the far-right hand side of the console, as seen in Fig. 5. These objects are to be used with a click-and-drag motion; rotating them in turn will allow you to rotate the Galaxy Map on the X and Y axes respectively. To elaborate: spinning the top object will pan the Galaxy Map left and right, up and down, while remaining faced in the same direction. Spinning the bottom (pyramidal) object will rotate the Galaxy Map around the central point of its crosshairs. Through manipulating these objects, you can highlight solar systems by moving them to the central point of the map's crosshairs. This will bring up details of the highlighted system including its given name, its coordinates in space, its distance from your vessel and the time required to reach it taking your speed setting and available energy into account. Once you have centred a solar system on the Galaxy Map display, the next logical step is to head to it and explore. Moving Your Vessel ]After selecting a destination, there are two main controls involved in moving your vessel toward it. The first control you need to attend to is the Speed or Energy Consumption control, seen in Fig. 6 - Speed Controls. This three-notch dial allows you to choose from points on a scale of two conflicting interests: the speed of travel (and thus, the journey time) and fuel consumption. As you move the dial between its three positions, you will notice that a bracket moves between three corresponding positions on the long vertical instrument immediately to its right. This instrument visually represents your remaining energy level. If it helps, imagine that the blue-coloured section is fuel sitting in a glass tube. As you use more energy, the fuel level goes down. Movement of the dial allows you to choose how much energy you wish to expend on your journey. Selecting the left-most position on the speed dial will use the least amount of energy possible to reach your destination. Due to the physical laws discussed in the subsection on physics, this effectively means that your maximum possible speed will be less than if you expended more fuel, and so your journey will take a larger amount of time, relatively. Likewise if you set the dial to its rightmost position you will use a larger amount of fuel, giving you a greater maximum speed and thus a shorter journey time. The vessel regenerates energy at a slow rate. Thankfully this means that the main disadvantage to travelling everywhere at top speed is that you have to spend longer before going on your next journey. The speed selector scales based on how much energy you have remaining so that you will always be able to commence a journey, but if you have very little energy left it may take a very long time to arrive. Once you have selected an appropriate speed, you can engage the vessel's engines. This is achieved by pulling the red lever on the right-hand side of the console, just next to the Galaxy Map controls, as seen in Fig. 7 - Engine Control Lever. Pulling this lever immediately commits the amount of energy you selected to the journey. Once you have begun moving, there is no way to retrieve that energy except by waiting it out, so be sure of your decision before you set off. Note: In order for the engines to be engaged, the movable card (seen in Fig. 8) must be in the right-hand slot. While in transit, take a moment to examine the relevant displays. Fig. 7 also shows the Speed/Energy display. The three lines of text on this display show: -Total available energy, out of a maximum 1000Units -Energy amount allocated with the speed dial (also seems to indicate each of the three available settings are 'EP' settings ranging from 1EP to 3EP) -The effective maximum speed of the vessel when activated with the current speed setting, measured in Parsecs Per Second (PCS) --- Additionally, the Coordinates and Selected System Display (to the right of the Galaxy Map, shown in Fig. 9) gives useful navigational information. -The top line, shown with a diamond icon, shows your vessel's current coordinates. -The second line, shown with a black highlighted rectangle shows the coordinates of the currently selected solar system. -The third line shows the distance between these two objects in Parsecs (PC). -The fourth line labelled 'T' shows the time a journey to the selected destination would take at the current speed setting. However, another line labelled 'T' also fills out once you begin moving. This second timer shows the total remaining journey time to your currently locked-in destination. The two T values differ because once your energy has been committed for the trip, the estimated time to the destination in the top line will change-acting as if you still have not set off. -I am equally unsure as to the purpose of the bottom line on this display. It could be a serial or ID number for the player. 'The Physics of Space Travel' To briefly jump into physics - the introduction to the game sums up the issue nicely: Slowing down takes a lot of work, but moving feels like standing still. Isaac Newton's first law of motion states that unless an object is at rest (stationary) it will move indefinitely until acted upon by another force. In the (effectively) zero-gravity environment of simulated space, the object in question (your spacefaring vessel), when assumed to have mass, requires a degree of propulsion to move. The laws of conservation of energy require energy to be expended in one way or another in order for the object to move. This means that the astronaut must be careful to conserve their energy to avoid being stranded. However, once the object is in motion it should need no further work to maintain its velocity until it wishes to stop. That is where the difficulty occurs. Luckily, your vessel's navigational computer will do the hard work of calculating acceleration and deceleration for you so that you arrive at your destination safely. Your vessel's speed is measured in Parsecs per Second, represented on the console's displays as PCS. This relates to the distance to your destination which is measured in Parsecs. Using an extremely simple formula, it is easy to extrapolate the journey time from this information, and vice versa. Speed=Distance/Time These three factors are completely interchangeable, giving the alternative equations: Distance=Speed*Time Time=Distance/Speed --- These features should allow you to successfully transport yourself between the furthest stars with ease and a little patience.